Funny topic, just seen this on ModDB:
https://www.moddb.com/features/top-five-active-rts-mods

Not too mention 0AD:
https://play0ad.com/

RTS games became quite niche in the last years and I don't see a meanigful chance that this will change in the close future. Iron Harvest, which was released not so long ago, wasn't a success. Warcraft 3 Reforged, which was depicted as a genre savior and a probe that will survey the market whether there's a demand for games from this genre, was a flop. In the upcoming years we'll see Homeworld 3, but I'm not sure if this will change anything. All that is left is to play existing RTS games or take a look at the indie scene where there are still people who create titles from this genre (Loria for example, which is currently free).

it is total dead
just rotting

well iron harvest is just meh
w3 repixelling is a cash grab scam
cnc repixelling is just very old games ,bad with todays expectations
these cant show how many people wants rts games

Yes, the RTS genre is dead. That doesn't mean there won't be a handful of bad RTS games coming out every year; there will be.

But it's still a dead genre anyway because it isn't viable any more and no one is making any good & worthwhile RTS games in modern times.

I blame the death of the RTS genre on the fact that devs tried to make RTS games that accommodate a controller, and in order to do that, they had to greatly dumb-down the gameplay & mechanics, which leaves the final product as just a shell of an imitation of what an RTS game should be.

I myself am not even a controller-hater. I happily use controllers for genres that suit them best. But RTS isn't one of them.

Yes of course....

thank god the niche side of things is still alive and kicking

and of course the switch to grand strat games that incorporate real time hence the rts naming in games such as total war, Stellaris or that other now paradox title steel division

with that said , there still seem to be an awful lot of starcraft players alive

It’s not surprising. Starcraft 2 was the last big RTS game. Right now I’m doing a playthrough of the official campaigns and apart from the fact that almost every mission has a time limit in some form, it’s great. Too bad that the genre probably has no future in the AAA segment.

Active mods -> that sounds like they're referring to multiplayer...

Yeah, I'm aware of their existence - and it's certainly a way to look at things. I grew up on Dune 2 though so can't really call anything without "spice melange" collection an RTS :P. My eyes glow blue with the tint of the times.

"I blame the death of the RTS genre on the fact that devs tried to make RTS games that accommodate a controller, and in order to do that, they had to greatly dumb-down the gameplay & mechanics, which leaves the final product as just a shell of an imitation of what an RTS game should be.

I myself am not even a controller-hater. I happily use controllers for genres that suit them best. But RTS isn't one of them."

I completely agree.

How old are those "some people"? Warcraft was among the first games being called RTS.
While I don't care that much about genres, subgenres, ... the historical aspect remains relevant, IMO.

Actually... I played Nether Earth on my dad's C64. Even now I remember being distinctly fascinated with the concept of building and commanding units on a screen. It's probably the game that triggered my early love of RTSes.

I'm always surprised whenever I think about just how many great ideas Dune 2 had, given that it was the first 'classic RTS' :
- A unique special unit and a unique palace power for each faction, along with some minor tech differences between each faction
- A repair yard for your units, and aerial support units that automatically pick up and drop off damaged units.
- Environmental hazard in the form of sand worms.
- A spacing guild which could be monitored for bargain prices on military units, which when ordered is delivered by a huge cargo ship.
- Buildings can be captured by infantry.
- A construction menu with animations for each building, and incredible artwork for each building and unit.

If only they had the foresight to include drag select...

And right or left click on-the-map move commands... unfortunately these were not a thing back then. Click move, click where you wanted the unit to move. Repeat for next 20 units. Ugh. Or you'd use keyboard shortcuts, but it still got old pretty fast. Not to say that I didn't think it was like the best thing ever at the time - there just wasn't a better option.

Oh no, me too, the game made me obsessed with base building, even when I wasn't sitting in front of a computer :) I constructed countless bases when I was playing in a garden / mound of dirt